Imam and Prayers

Whenever Imam used to peform wudu, he would carry out all the actions of wudu facing the Qibla. Even if the bathroom was not facing the Qibla, every time after taking a palmful of water, he would close the tap and put the water on his face or hand while facing the Qibla.1

Imam greatly stressed the secrets of prayers. I particularly remember that he paid great attention to Martyr Thani’s book ‘Aadab-e-Prayers’ (Manners of Prayers) and used to say: “It is better if we say (call it) secrets of prayers.”

Imam paid attention to the (inner) meaning of praying from the beginning of performing wudu, i.e. from the time when a person goes towards water to perform wudu, until the end of prayers.

He used to say this tradition many times, which I think is from Misbah Al-Sharee’e, that one of Imams has said: “When you go towards water to perform wudu, you are really going towards the mercy of Allah.” Imam used to emphasise this statement a lot.2

Imam gave a lot of importance to prayers and emphasised it very much; he always used to say: “Don’t be negligent in your prayers.” He used to say to us: “When you say, first I will do this and then I will pray, this is wrong, don’t say this. Give your prayers importance. Prayers come first.” In short, he used to emphasise (the importance of) prayers very much.3Farida Mustafavi (Imam’s daughter)